Vathi and BBQ
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Mon 10 Aug 2009 07:06
Vathi (Ithaki)
We enjoyed our stay in Sivota and both agreed it was probably our favourite
place so far in Greece. it is a lovely place - the bay is very picturesque
and sheltered and the village is yacht friendly! We decided to stay at
anchor but made enquiries regarding the various options available. The new
pontoon in the NE corner has power and water but costs 50 Euros a night. It
does not have 'lazy lines' so as with the town quay one has to drop an
anchor and moor up that way. The main quay and the one on the NW side are
free but there is no power and water is metered a 2Euro coin operates the
meter and we watched a Dutch boat use one they seemed to get plenty of the
stuff - certainly enough to wash down and fill their tanks.
There are a couple of small mini-markets and several tavernas that offer
showers as well as extensive menus at reasonable prices. We even found a bar
that sold 'big' beers at 2 Euros (almost another Lazy Jacks). When we
arrived there was plenty of room on the quay and in the bay for anchoring;
however by 1800 it was crowded and boats arriving later than this had to
anchor further out in much deeper water. As there are two Flotilla companies
operating from here it is best to avoid weekends when they do their change
overs!
38 22.0 N 20 43.1E
On Saturday we motored down to Vathi on Meganisi to meet up with our friends
on Grand Slam. We anchored here again and agreed to meet up ashore in the
evening. The town here has a variety of good shops and plenty of tavernas -
one down side was the taverna near our anchorage that played loud music and
stayed open until 0400! (but I guess it was a Saturday night and holiday
season)
Sunday morning following shopping we met up with the others and decided not
to bother to move after all to the bay round the headland to the south but
just have our BBQ here in Vathi. Ju and Liz were able to find out
information regarding ferry routes to get them to Athens on Wednesday and we
also discovered that the cafe we were in had WIFI so will be going ashore to
get this sent off before we leave here today.
The BBQ worked out fine and we enjoyed a lovely evening on board Arwen
chatting about our various experiences and discussing future plans, while
consuming plenty of red wine and beer! The wind was very fresh when we
started but true to form had dropped to nothing by 2100. We hope to meet up
with Grand Slam on Tuesday night in Sami (Cephalonia) to say cheerio to Liz
and Ju.